_Planning Commission meeting agenda packet 6-25-25

CITY OF PLEASANTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN FY2024-2028 In the past, a city’s role in advancing “Major Projects” revolved around business and developer incentives. According to IEDC, incentives as “the” economic development tool have evolved into a highly “local” game – with relative value determined by market conditions, personal relationships, and economic opportunity. While the City of Pleasanton lacks formalized business and developer programming, the City’s economic development function is poised to build upon its ad hoc successes to date. According to IEDC’s “More than Money – Alternative Incentives that Benefit Companies and Communities” local governments should adopt different types of non-monetary alternative incentives to use in conjunction with financial incentives for greatest competitive value. Commonly used incentives like workforce training credits and expedited permitting are considered “typical economic development practice” and not a differentiator in site selection decisions. Alternative incentives in the form of business and developer programming focused on major development projects can be effectively used, especially in conjunction with other financial incentives. Property Repositioning Streamlining a community’s planning and permitting processes is more than a question of convenience for the businesses. Prolonged processing increases the cost of development and decreases businesses’ ability to respond to rapidly changing market realities. Communities can also offer other types of real estate services, such as lists and data on available buildings, assistance with feasibility studies and more. Implementing technology as well as staffing to expedite permitting; Alameda County liaison; expand budget to DDA to expand authority; by-right developmental zoning for target industries; transfer development rights. Networking and Promotion Helping new businesses make connections in the community is as much about customer service as it is about developing and strengthening existing clusters and local supply chains through business- to-business connections. This category also includes services such as assistance with spouse relocation, access to cluster partnerships and peer mentoring. This could include targeted networking events to reach distinct audiences (industrial, retail, residential, minority, entrepreneurial/start-ups, small businesses, and others). These activities also link to the Implementation Plan. Linking Economic Development Objectives to Infrastructure Investments Locational strategies that focus limited infrastructure resources to major projects such as the Northlake Mall Redevelopment, Downtown and Lawrenceville Highway will produce the highest return on public investment by advancing three major anchor/ attractors within the near term. This category also includes less expensive infrastructure improvements such as signage and streetscape upgrades, among others but should be marketed as the City’s investment in advancing the implementation of its Major Projects. Such services are especially valuable to those that lack the in-house capacity to conduct sophisticated analysis or otherwise cannot access specialized datasets. Also included in this category is access to community-level information, both through an economic development agency website as well as connections to current employers who can offer insights into the quality of the business environment. According to evaluation of existing conditions, it is recommended that the City create a formalized Business & Developer Programming including the following financial and non-monetary incentives and other resources. MAJOR PROJECTS ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS 38